


On Her Hand

by Katherine



Category: Island in the Sea of Time - S. M. Stirling
Genre: F/F, Soulmate's name on hand, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 20:59:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3910450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/pseuds/Katherine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marian Alston, captain of the Coast Guard ship Eagle, was long years away from the child she had been.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Her Hand

Marian Alston, captain of the Coast Guard ship _Eagle,_ was long years away from the child she had been. Then, she had carefully written her name while imagining it a pretty curve on another girl's hand. She had watched the unrelentingly bare state of her own hands, hoping. She had long since given up waiting, let alone imagining, and in settled adulthood gave next to no thought to her unmarked hands and lack of soulmate.

The strange sky crackled with eerie lightning overhead, then the stomach-turning different pattern of stars. Her left hand hurt, sharp and sudden like being cut by a keen edge. The sensation faded fast, so she ignored the strangeness within strangeness as she cut through the babble over the radio from Nantucket.

That contact accomplished, Marian slipped into her cabin for an hour or two's rest, or at least setting an example to those members of the crew who should be offshift resting rather than gaping at the sky.

She finally let herself uncurl her left hand, staring at the word stark across her palm. A name, that had to be what it was, although it was not a name she had ever heard of, and each letter was shaky: Swindapa.


End file.
